Published at: July 21, 1999, 4:02 a.m. CST by staff
Currently within the realm of the development chart known as (Rewriting and Casting) is a project called OCEAN'S 11. Thirty-Nine years ago Lewis Milestone, director of such great films as ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, RAIN and a personal fave of mine EDGE OF DARKNESS, directed Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Peter Lawford, Angie Dickinson, Joey Bishop, Henry Silva and others into what is commonly known amongst the coolsters of the world as "One cool as hell movie" called OCEAN'S 11.
I had the good fortune to see this movie projected here in Austin about a year ago (Click Here To Read) and now I hear that Brett Ratner (Money Talks and Rush Hour) is doing preliminary work on a remake that would move Danny Ocean and his band of merry men from the sixties to the present. You see... Now they'd be veterans of Desert Storm. Down on their luck and spread all over hell. The plotline is to get this group of eleven back together and in place to pull one hell of a heist in Vegas at a major casino during the height of the big fight.
Well, ya know. I really like the first film, but not so much as a pure movie so much as for a document of the Rat Pack at it's coolest. The movie is cool, simply because those guys are in it. I do believe that a remake could be viable on this film, but ya know... People will always rather see Sammy and Dean and Frank and crew.... I mean... They ain't actors or performers.... They're ICONS. I don't know... Maybe it would work.
